Dale Jarrett won the NASCAR points championship in 1999 and captured three Daytona 500s in his distinguished career. But he still has one goal left to accomplish in his final competitive race today, the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Jarrett has to keep the No. 44 UPS car at Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) in the top 35 in points, which would mean when David Reutimann takes over the ride next week, he will not have to worry about qualifying to get into the race.

If one remembers last season for Jarrett and the rest of MWR, the somewhat modest goal of being 35th takes on a whole new meaning. Their inaugural season also was the first season in the Sprint Cup for its manufacturer, Toyota, a combination that led to frightful results.

You could count the number of top 10s Jarrett had on . . . well, you wouldn’t even need hands, because he did not finish there once. Reutimann also failed to get one, and team owner Waltrip had one.

“I wouldn’t wish that part (weekly qualifying) on anybody, and I know that somebody has to (do it) every week,” Jarrett said. “That was a stressful time, no doubt, and still is, and I don’t solidly have it in there.”

Jarrett has his car in the 32nd position. Starting with next week’s race at Martinsville, the standings for this year are used, as opposed to the first five races of the season when the 2007 standings are the standard. Reutimann, whose car will be taken over by rookie Michael McDowell after he takes over No. 44, is 27th, and Waltrip is 33rd.

“We’ve been a lot more competitive, and you know, if we can get that to where we’ve got all three cars when they show up at Martinsville that are in the top 35, that will just accelerate the opportunities for Michael Waltrip Racing to become even more successful,” Jarrett said.

“A lot of hard work and effort, and it’s been nice to see that and certainly everyone at Toyota has worked extremely hard to make this a lot more successful this year, too.”

Jarrett is leaving the car for the broadcast booth, where he’ll take over for Rusty Wallace on ESPN’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup telecasts.

“I’ve looked at it as a privilege and an honor to drive these cars to make a living driving a race car, to be a part of the NASCAR world as it is today,” said Jarrett, who will race one more time at the exhibition All-Star race at Charlotte in May.

Jarrett’s last competitive race will be the second on Bristol’s repaved track, which was met with resounding criticism after last year’s fall race.

“Hopefully because of what we did learn last year of racing twice there, that the competition will be even better,” Jarrett said. “It just is hard to believe that whatever happens that it’s not going to be an extremely exciting race at Bristol. I just believe in my heart that that is going to happen.”